Our silence has been long and deep. In canonical literature,
we have always been spoken for. Or we have been spoken to.
Or we have appeared as jokes or as flat figures suggesting sen-
suality. Today we are taking back the narrative, telling our
own story. -- Toni Morrison ¹

The problem I face as a writer is to make my stories mean
something. You can have a wonderful, interesting people, a
fascinating story, but it's not about anything. It has no real
substance. I want my books to always be about something that
is important to me, and the subjects that are important in the
world are the same ones that have always been important.
-- Toni Morrison ²

Toni Morrison is an important novelist. . . . Part of her appeal
of course lies in her extraordinary ability to create beautiful
language and striking characters. However, Morrison's most
important gift, the one which gives her a major author's uni-
versality, is the insight with which she writes of problems
all humans face. . . . At the core of her novels is a penetrating
view of the unyielding, heart-breaking dilemma which tor-
ments people of all races. -- Elizabeth B. House ³

I am really happy when I read something, particularly about
black people, when it is not so simple minded . . . when it is
not set up in some sociological equation where all the villains
do this and all the whites are heroes, because it just makes
black people boring, and they are not. I have never met yet a
boring black person. All you have to do is scratch the surface
and you will see. And this is because of the way they look at
life. -- Toni Morrison ⁴

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